I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.
Four authors highlight the struggles of four women who have endured heartbreak and complicated pasts, and who must find a way to open their hearts again in the breakout Thanksgiving holiday anthology, “Thankfully in Love”.
The Synopsis
Four USA Today bestselling romance authors come together for Thanksgiving, telling the stories of four woman who have not had the best experiences with the men they have dated in their pasts. With the help of family and loved ones this holiday season, can they learn to open their hearts one more time? If they can dare to make the leap, they could find themselves finally, thankfully in love…
There’s no place like home, especially during Thanksgiving. After spending ten years as an officer and analyst with a special division in a federal cyber-investigation, Tripp Atsilla is on the brink of burnout. Then he meets Parker Rutledge. Two years ago she changed her name and moved to a small town, hoping to leave the damage her ex-husband caused behind. Someone’s found her; someone who wants to make her pay for her ex-husband’s crimes. But can she trust Tripp? Can she trust anyone?
Miranda Cox isn’t looking forward to heading home for Thanksgiving. She’d raved to everyone that Matthew was the one; now she has yet another failed relationship under her belt. Despite working as a translator in Ottawa, and loving travelling abroad, she’s thirty-four and still single. When Miranda arrives at Union Station in Toronto, she’s surprised to see Taz, her childhood friend. Years earlier, they’d drifted apart. Miranda was so hurt over the loss of their friendship. She’s also shocked to learn that he’s divorced. Miranda finds herself inviting him and his sick mother for Thanksgiving dinner at her parents’ place. It is finally their time?
Chef Drew Barnett has been hired to create the perfect Thanksgiving for a potential restaurant investor, but a power outage has him scrambling to find a working kitchen. Jilted bride and food critic Claire Rothchild is pet-sitting a friend’s St. Bernard named Snowflake. She wants to hibernate for the holidays, but it turns out the guest house she’s staying in has power when the main house does not. Feeling uncomfortable for invading the privacy of his potential investor’s guest, Drew doesn’t know what to make of a food critic in his kitchen, just as Claire doesn’t know how to stop interfering with his dishes and passing tidbits to a mooching pooch. Is this a recipe for a Dog-Gone Holiday? Or for love?
Born with a degenerative eye disease, photographer Kelsey Thomas knows two things: she will be legally blind within five years and her family wants to see her married and settled first. Then Kelsey’s boyfriend breaks up with her one week before she planned to introduce him to her family at her grandmother’s island commitment ceremony. At the resort bar, she meets Dr. Noah Lawson. He spends his life inside his lab developing cutting-edge techniques to slow the progression of vision loss. When he’s offered funding with strings—save the eyesight of the granddaughter of a wealthy investor—he’s reluctant to agree. Noah is smitten by Kelsey—so much so that he agrees to be her fake wedding date for the Thanksgiving holidays. Too late, he realizes her connection to his potential investor. Is this a set-up? Or fate?
The Review
This was a heartwarming, emotional, and entertaining read. Each author did an amazing job of blending their individual tales into the overall theme and setting of the anthology, while still retaining originality and great character development in their narratives.
The thing that stood out to me as a reader and an author was the way each author was able to bring to the table their own unique spin on the theme by incorporating different genres into the narratives. The first story of this anthology becomes a mystery-thriller with a romantic twist, and then the next becomes a heartwarming tale of nostalgia, and two people who believed their love for one another was unrequited. It was a fun and excellent way of keeping each author’s voice distinct and keeping the stories from blurring between one another.
The Verdict
Passionate, emotionally-driven, and brilliantly executed, “Thankfully In Love” is a must-read anthology this holiday season. An evenly-paced collection that captures the closeness and family-driven holidays, each story brings about tales of hope, passion, and brewing romances that reignite the heart and drive us all forever onward. If you are a fan of holiday romance stories, then don’t miss out on this amazing anthology today!
Rating: 10/10
About the Authors
A geek at heart, USA Today and national bestselling author Anna J Stewart writes “refreshingly unique, quietly humorous, and profoundly moving romance.” (RT Book Reviews) Her books include The Nemesis Files Trilogy (light romantic suspense), The Butterfly Harbor series for Harlequin Heartwarming (sweet romances) and the Honor Bound series for Harlequin Romantic suspense. She’s also branching out into paranormal romance with the Tome Wardens short romance collection.
NYTimes bestselling author Brenda Novak says “The talented Anna J Stewart delivers every time!” Anna lives in Northern California where she deals with a serious Supernatural & Jason Momoa addiction, surrounds herself with friends and family and tolerates two devious kitties named Sherlock and Rosie.
Kayla Perrin is a multi-award-winning, multi-published USA Today and Essence ® bestselling author whose 43rd book was released in late 2011! Also in 2011, Kayla received the prestigious Harry Jerome Award for excellence in the arts.
From the time she could hold a pencil, Kayla knew she wanted to be a writer, and didn’t stop until she realized her dream. She is published in a variety of genres, including mystery/suspense, romance and mainstream fiction.
She has been featured on television shows such as Entertainment Tonight Canada, Who’s Afraid of Happy Endings (a Bravo documentary about the romance genre), and A.M. Buffalo (among others). She has been featured in Ebony magazine, Romantic Times magazine, The South Florida Business Journal, The Toronto Star and other Canadian and U.S. publications. Her works have been translated into Italian, German, Spanish and Portuguese.
Kayla has spoken to children and young adults at schools and other venues, and enjoys speaking about her passion. Through her own story, she wishes to inspire people.
https://www.authorkaylaperrin.com/
Prior to writing romance, award-winning, USA Today Bestseller Melinda Curtis was a junior manager for a Fortune 500 company, which meant when she flew on the private jet she was relegated to the jump seat—otherwise known as the potty. After grabbing her pen (and a parachute) she made the jump to full-time writer. Between writing sweet romance and sweet romantic comedy, Melinda finds time to bond with her husband over home remodeling projects. She recently came to grips with the fact that she’s an empty nester and a grandma, concepts easier to grasp than jet-setting on a potty.
Sign up for her newsletter on her website to receive two free reads.
A non-stop flight from Honolulu to Chicago. A quick stop at the airport bookstore and Cari Lynn Webb discovered her love for romance. She cannot recall the book she bought, but she does remember finishing it somewhere over California, feeling pleased the murderer had been arrested (justice had prevailed). But frustration reigned as Cari searched for a hidden chapter or missed epilogue that would show the heroine and the FBI agent she’d fallen in love with living their happily-ever-after. (Surely love conquered all.) Except not in that particular book. Another trip to the bookstore in her grandparents’ home town and Cari discovered an entire section of books dedicated to the happily-ever-after. There she found Kathleen Woodiwiss, Judith McNaught and then Nora Robert … and she became a life-long romance reader.
Cari’s passion for reading had not dimmed years later when she found herself newly married and inside another bookstore during her lunch break. But the shelves of happily-ever-afters surrounding her couldn’t stem her frustration at not being able to find a new historical romance (Amazon wasn’t the household name it would become). So like any dedicated reader, Cari drove back to work, opened a word document and began to write the historical she wanted to read. Months later, she printed the manuscript, presented it to her husband and asked if she should pursue acting or continue writing. With her husband’s full support, she continued writing… and now she feeds her passion for romance with a stack of to-be read paperbacks in her nightstand, multiple downloads on her kindle and her own stories.
Cari believes in the power of love simply because she’d grown up surrounded by true love. She remembers her grandparents holding hands when she visited them as a kindergartner and still holding hands when her grandmother whispered her final goodbyes to her grandfather after 70 years together. Cari’s parents have been married over 50 years. And Cari is blessed to have married her own hero. She will be the first to tell you that true love isn’t always sweet and perfect, it can be challenging, complicated and risky. But in the end, there is nothing more worth fighting for.
Wishing all of you, your very own happily-ever-after…
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